Empty Tomb Cookies

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Of all the Easter crafts ideas for kids that we enjoy every year, this recipe for an edible craft is the one that is my favorite. My daughter and I made this very special Easter recipe last year and it is a MUST! Not only did she thoroughly enjoy it, but every time she sees vinegar, she tells me that it is what they gave Jesus to drink when he was on the Cross. The memories it creates for me as a parent are absolutely priceless–I know that. But the visual memory markers it creates in her mind, keeping her focused on the Cross at a such a young age, well, that has a value all its own.

Bradford and I had such a good time going through the recipe and explaining to her the symbolism in each ingredient. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Activity: Put pecans in a Ziploc bag and let children beat them with a wooden spoon, to break them into small pieces.Discussion: After Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.Read: John 19:1-3.

Activity: Let children smell vinegar. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to a mixing bowl.Discussion: When Jesus was thirsty on the cross, he was given vinegar to drink.Read: John 19:28,30

This is what her face looked like after she smelled it!

Activity: Add egg whites to vinegar.Discussion: Eggs represent life. Jesus gave His life to give us life.Read: John 10:10-11

Activity: Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl with the egg and vinegar.Discussion: This represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sins.Read: Luke 23:27

Activity: Add one cup of sugar.Discussion: The sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.Read: Psalm 34:8

Activity: Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes or until stiff peaks are formed.Discussion: The color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.Read: Isaiah 1:18

We also have nut allergies in our home and I think I am going to try pretzels instead of pecans. Then the kids will still get to break up the pretzels. Can’t wait to share this with our 3 kids. We’ve made “resurrection rolls” before, but have not heard of these empty tomb cookies. Thanks so much for sharing!

I wanted to thank you for sharing the recipe as well. We had a good time making the cookies Saturday night. My 6 year old was the most interested in helping me and we had a wonderful conversations. My husband and I started questioning my six year old about sin and if he understood what sin was and he did. Luke decided on 4/3/10 at 10:00pm to ask Jesus to forgive him of his sins and give him a clean heart. Thank you for sharing with us.
Lori Burnett

How wonderful! Thank you for sharing that Lori! Keep teaching him about Jesus. Especially about the assurance that nothing can ever separate us from Jesus once we believe. That we are sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit and we have become children off God!

My children are in their teens and we have enjoyed these Tomb Cookies and the Resurrection Rolls for year, both are an Easter tradition at our house and they are both very yummy and can teach the real reason of Easter is more than the Easter Bunny.

You leave it on at least til it is to the temperature that the recipe says and don’t turn it off until you actually have the merengue ready to go in. Also, don’t make them more than about a tablespoon or so in size. They may fall and not be “empty” inside, they may not be done, as well if they are too big.

Pretzels are a great substitute my daughter makes pretzel sticks using large pretzels with pecans (sorry) caramel and chocolate drizzle, the combination is wonderful. You could also try Rice Krispies or Special K, of course coconut would make them more like macaroons. Will pass this site on. Thanks

Do you know if I make these in advance with my son and then I put them in the oven after it was preheated later on (hours later) if they will still work? I so want to do this special activity with him tomorrow, but we have plans to go out for dinner and I want to know if we can do the cookies beforehand in the AM and then I can put them in the oven later on that evening?

Amy – I am not sure, I have not tried, but I would think not. They would think they would loose their “fluff” from beating the egg whites if you refrigerated them before cooking. But, it is worth a try! Anyone know?

Amy – I just had another idea! Just make them, put them in the oven, let it sit all day (as if you would overnight). Then if you need your oven for dinner, just remove the cookies BEFORE bed (maybe hide them from kids), then just place back in the oven before you go to bed and let them see it in the morning. It will work just the same. HOpe that helps!

Wow Thank you so much.. We dont exactly celebrate Easter. We still let our kids do easter eggs and hunt but i couldnt find a fun way to show them what Holy week was all about. We dont exactly do passover but i am trying to find some fun ways to expalin that as well. This is GREAT! now i have something beautiful and yummy to share with my kids! THANK YOU SO MUCH! You sharing with us is such a blessing!

There is a Montessori curriculum called Godly Play, where you tell the story in a special way using props and thoughtful questions at the end…I meditate on the passage so that I can tell the story in the way that I believe and with the passion of believing it. Our kids LOVE it and are always asking for godly play. We do this most Sundays as a family bible meditation, but Holy Week has at least three stories in it and then we have communion as a family together. For the Palm Sunday story you make green palm leaves cut out of fabric and silky fabric squares for the “coats” There is a felt backdrop, a felt “road” and a laminated outline of Jerusalem and Jesus on a donkey. After I tell the story and ask questions, the kids get to put down the leaves and coats and say “Hosanna in the highest-Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

I make a similar cookie at Christmas but they don’t use vinegar & they do use vanilla & chocolate chips. They are amazingly good. If I can come up with something the chocolate represents, I will have to try this with my daughter. 🙂 Thanks!

These sound yummy!! We did Resurrection cookies last year, but have since discovered several food allergies – including wheat (which knocks out the ability to use biscuits like we did last year) and egg whites which knocks this one out 🙁 I love how each ingredient has a special meaning behind it!!

I’d like to try this recipe in Sunday School class. Does anyone know about how many cookies this recipe makes? Can’t find the yield on any website. Not sure if I might need to double the recipe. Thanks!

My grandmother taught me to make these (without the resurrection story). She called them Forgotten Cookies. But Grandmother would divide the meringue into parts and stir in choc chips, butterscotch chips, nuts and crushed candy canes into each of the different parts – for a lovely variety in each batch. Thank you for reminding me of the recipe.

Also, my thoughts in reference to discussions about double batches or toaster ovens…
Meringue doesn’t keep uncooked. It will fall flat after an hour or so. Whatever size batch you make needs to ALL fit into whatever oven you use in ONE go. It is also important not to open the oven at all (not a single crack) for the entire minimum 8 hour period.

I want to explain and act out the preparation of the cookies to my Sunday school class If I was to make the cookies at home for them to actually eat and take them to church, will it still be hollow in the inside?

Bad news, my cookies didnt come out empty in the middle, but the kids LOVED them, could someone tell me what I could have done wrong, I am not a baker and followed the instructions, however I did triple the receipe, should I have only made one batch at at time? Thanks for the advice.

You may not have beat them enough. With that many egg whites, they probably didn’t fluff up enough, which kept them from being hollow inside. I find with baking it is not always easy to double or triple. Next time I’d recommend making them one batch at a time. So sorry they didn’t turn out right! But weren’t they still so yummy? 🙂

You may have put too much merengue in each mound. Since you turn the oven completely off, it cools down, which is fine for smaller merengues but larger ones would need constant low heat for a longer period. I hope to remember this by next year as I only make merenge cookies on Easter eve and that gives plenty of time to remember that they fell when I made them too big the year before! I pray they turn out hollow for you next time! 🙂

Hi Kelly. I really enjoyed this post – especially the pics (your daughter’s expression with the vinegar was precious. Bet she got the point!) and narrative. I did this Saturday with my husband and son (8 years old) and we all enjoyed it but my son LOVED it. It helped to get him up (so early) for sunrise service to remind him he had to unseal the “tomb”!

One thing we did a liitle diffently (as I wrote down the scriptures from this and another website but didn’t strictly follow the “script”) and worked well for us was after the egg whites were whipped and bright white I said that Jesus was pure and without sin but that He took our sins on Himself (added the nuts). Samuel could see that it was no longer pure white. But, as we folded them in, they were covered with the white! Thought it was a neat analogy to being covered with Christ’s righteousness and shared verses about that. Then we proceeded as you outlined. Just thought you might like that too. Blessings, Rachael

Trackbacks

[…] that she tasted it when she was learning about how Jesus died on the cross. If you missed it, I wrote a very long post on Empty Tomb Cookies and how to use them with step by step instructions and pictures. I hope you enjoy it! :: […]

[…] Here is a link to a great activity that may become a favorite tradition in your family. It requires a little planning and patience, but I think it will provide great opportunities for you to talk with your kids about what Easter is really about. It will also give your kids something sweet to look forward to on Easter morning. […]

[…] we worked through some family devotionals provided by our church. And then Mimi sent us this new idea for Empty Tomb Cookies. We did these the night before, making a few alterations. Although the […]

[…] you color with your grandchildren. If you are looking for a craft you can build an empty tomb or bake hollow cookies (I like the idea of leaving them in the oven over night). Of course cookies are not the point of […]